BOUNDARIES, TOPOGRAPHY, ETC.

Marion County is situated nearly in the center of the organized counties of
Kansas, the center of population being according to the census of 1880, twelve
miles west of the western boundary line of the county.

The original location of Marion County, as created by an act of the
Territorial Legislature February 17, 1860 is as follows:

Commencing at the southeast corner of Township 21, Range 5; thence north to
the northeast corner of Township 18, Range 5; thence west to the northeast
corner of Township 18, Range 4; thence north to the southeast corner of
Dickinson County; thence west to the Sixth Principal meridian, thence south
to the southwest corner of township 21, range 1; thence east to the place of
beginning.

By this location its area was 864 square miles. Its present area is 954 square
miles, having an increase by Township 22, of range 3, 4, and 5, and a decrease
of the east tier of sections in Towns 20, 21, and 22, of Range 5, three
sections having been attached to Chase County. Under this act, there was no
organization for the population of the county in 1860 was but 74; in 1865 it
was 162. It had then but 200 cultivated acres.

A special act of the Legislature February 22, 1865, extended the northern
boundary of the county on the line between Townships 16 and 17 to the west of
line of the State, making its west boundary identical with the State line, and
also its southern to the west line of Butler county (then including Cowley).
But Marion County comprised all Southeastern Kansas but a few months, for in
June of the same year, in response to a petition from the inhabitants the
Governor restored the boundaries previously established and ordered a separate
organization of the county.

The face of the county here shows much variety -- valleys, bluffs, plains and
wooded dells, alternating in a most picturesque degree, and rendering Marion
County one of the most beautiful in the State. The average width of the bottom
lands exceeds a mile; the surface of the country away from the streams is
gently undulating for the most part, though apparently there are extensive
level tracts. It may be classified as 15 per cent of bottom; 85 per cent
upland; 3 percent timber; 97 per cent prairie.

The Cottonwood river rises in the northwest part of the county, and flows
through it in a southeasterly direction. Its principal tributaries from the
north are Mud, Clear, Martin's and Bruno Creeks; from the south, French, South
Branch, Catlin, and Doyle Creeks. Three other large creeks have their
headwaters in this county -- Middle, Lyons and Turkey Creeks. No county in
the state has a more abundant water supply. Much timber grows along the
valleys of the streams, mainly cottonwood, elm, hackberry, hickory, oak,
sycamore and walnut trees. There is also much cultivated timber.

The soil in the bottom lands comprises a rich loam of from two to ten feet in
depth, underlaid by a bed of sand, which acts as a natural sewer. The upland
is a dark loam, on an average a foot in depth. Pure and strong salt water has
been discovered at Peabody, at a depth of 640 feet. In this neighborhood,
gypsum beds have been found, and hydraulic cement, mineral paint, fire, pottery
and brick clay exist in very considerable quantities. Pure magnesian limestone
of different shades in great quantity and of excellent quality abounds.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

The first settlement made in the county was by an Irishman of the name of
Moses Shane, who located at the spot where now stands Florence, early in the
spring of 1858. He built a log house, broke several acres of ground, and
resided there until his death, which occurred in 1859. Patrick Doyle, in the
year 1859, located near Florence, on what is now called Doyle's Creek, but
soon afterward returned to Leavenworth, from whence he came. In the lapse of
a few years, he returned to the place, and lived where he first located.

In August, 1859, the first white child was born in the county, and was of Irish
extraction, by the name of Welsh. The birth occurred on what is known as the
Potter place, two miles from Florence. Its parents emigrated to Kansas from
Wisconsin.

At Lost Springs, which is located on Section 21, Town 17, Range 4, Clear Creek
Township, a trading post was established in the spring of 1859. It was
located on the great thoroughfare from Independence, Mo., to New Mexico and
the Territories, which was largely traveled by the emigrants in quest of gold,
and by the freighters who took supplies to the Western forts. J. H. Costello
was Postmaster at Lost Springs in 1861. On July 4, 1862, Robert Bailey, on
Clear Creek, was killed by the premature discharge of a gun. This was the
first death among the settlers. Late in the year 1859, on his return from a
Pike's Peak adventure, Thomas J. Wise, Sr., made a settlement on Clear Creek.
December 28, 1862, the first marriage in the county occurred, that of J. H.
Costello and Abigail Wise. Reuben Riggs and Mahlon Riggs settled on Clear
Creek in 1864, but afterward removed to the Cottonwood, near Florence. In the
spring of 1864, T. J. Wise, Sr., purchased a mower and reaper, at Lawrence,
which was the first one brought into the county. On Clear Creek, in 1864, Miss
Maggie H. Norris taught the first school that was organized in the county,
having obtained her teacher's certificate in Chase County. She is now the wife
of Mr. J. C. Rath, who is the Postmaster at Antelope.

In the late autumn of 1859, A. A. Moore established a trading post at what was
called Cottonwood Crossing, and later known as Moore's Ranche. In the spring
of 1861, Mr. Moore was made Postmaster at this place; and in the month of
April there was an attempt made to organize Marion County, under and by virtue
of the Territorial law of Kansas. A meeting of the settlers was called and a
proclamation was issued for an election to be held at this place. The polls
having been opened on the day set apart for the election, an Election Board
was organized, a few ballots were cast by those present, when the fact
presented itself that there were not enough men in the county qualified to
fill all the offices of honor, profit and trust.

Early in 1860, W. H. Billings, George Griffith and William Shreve settled at
or near Marion Center; C. R. Roberts, an Episcopalian, from Rutland, Vt., came
October 1, 1861, and Nelson Miller established a hotel north of Marion center
on the east side of Muddy in 1862, which for years was the main objective
point for food and shelter for the traveler, after leaving Council Grove, as
he wended his way across the plains in a west southwesterly course, on the
great Sante Fe trail.

The post office at Marion Center was established in 1862, W. H. Billings,
Postmaster. This place was on a mail route from Cottonwood Falls to Moore's
Ranche. A store was started here by Mr. Billings and A. A. Moore in 1861; a
schoolhouse was erected in 1862; here was the first Methodist Episcopal Church
building of the county, and on July 4, 1863, there was a patriotic celebration
of the ninety persons of the county at Billings Park, where the feathered
songsters united their songs of rejoicing with those of the hardy pioneers.

Wilson Campbell was the first settler in Wilson Township. He located in 1870.
The first birth in this township was that of Hans Olsen, in March, 1871.

In October, 1872, the first water grist mill erected in the county was put in
operation by Messrs. Moore & Fuller, on the Cottonwood, nearly two miles west
of Marion Center. Its site is in the southeast part of Gale Township. If ever
the grasshopper was specially a burden to any people, the early settlers of
Marion so realized in August, 1874, as they came swooping in like the rushing
of mighty waters, with the bosom of destruction, destroying the vegetation of
the county, and causing destitution terrible in the extreme. County Relief
Bonds to the amount of $10,000 were issued March 13, 1875, as a partial
mitigation of the loss of crops.

In the summer of 1868, the Cheyenne Indians committed depredations in the
northern portion of the county, many of the settlers losing cattle and horses,
though it may be said that during that period many horses were taken by white
thieves assuming the dress and appearance of the wild Indian. Many of the
settlers came to Marion Center and sought refuge in the stone building used as
a store by J. H. Costello, which stands on the southeast corner of Main and
Fifth streets. Mr. David Lucas, a former county commissioner, in some indirect
manner, learned of the intended line of pursuit of the Indians, and he lost no
time in riding his horse with the utmost speed to Council Grove, to inform
Maj. E. S. Stover, the Kaw Indian agent, of the probable Indian attack, and
this warning served to avert the possible disaster that might have ensued but
for the thwarting of the plans of the barbarous foe. Often has the head of a
family gathered his loved ones about him at night and found refuge in a
cornfield, for fear of an Indian raid upon the house.

Marion County has a funded indebtedness for bonds issued to the Kansas &
Nebraska railroad, a line surveyed from the northeastern to the southwestern
portion of the county. The proposition was for the sum of $200,000, one-half
to be paid in thirty-year bonds with interest, when the grading was completed
to Marion Center from the north line of the county. The grade has been made,
but it is not known when there will be a road, as per expectation. This is the
main financial burden resting on the county.

The county has had a conviction for murder, and it has sent a prisoner to the
State Penitentiary for twenty-one years. It was for cold-blooded murder
committed at Peabody, February 14, 1872, by Lewis Crawford upon the esteemed
citizen Mr. C. H. Davenport.

The county, aside from these instances, may be said to have been measurably
free from debt and crime.

In 1870, the municipal townships of the county were Center, Clear Creek and
Doyle; in 1875, the additional ones were Branch, Grant, Peabody, Risley,
Summit and Wilson; in 1880, the additional ones were Catlin, Fairplay, Gale
and Liberty; in 1882, Durham Park, East branch and West branch, which are two
townships created from "Branch." Peabody is the most densely settled township,
having forty-four people to the square mile; Durham Park the least densely
settled, having about two to the square mile.

Marion County has three good towns -- Peabody, in the southwest in the central
part of Range 3; Marion Center, centrally located from north to south, in the
west part of Range 4; Florence, near the southeast part of the county in the
west part of Range 5, and the east part of Range 4.